by Mia Ashlinn
Mary scoffed, “Your men? Not anymore, darling.”
Jaycee chanted, her nervousness evident in the way she spoke, “Chick fight! Chick fight! Chick fight!”
“My money is on Mary getting her ass kicked,” Katie-Anne said in a strangled voice. “Shan won’t do it, but I’m about to.”
“Uh-oh. She really is going to get the ass-beating of her life. You are one vicious bitch,” Jaycee commented. “I better call Gray and Cade. We’re going to need bail money as soon as possible.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “I hope they aren’t busy right now.” Her anxiety seemed to lessen as she mentioned her husbands-to-be.
Katie-Anne snorted as she played along with Jaycee, sounding as though she’d relaxed some, too. “They are always busy. How many beds have you three broken? Don’t forget the table and two chairs. Oh, and, the blender! I do not want to know how you broke that.”
“Hey, it fell off the counter! It’s was not our faults,” Jaycee countered indignantly.
Okay, I’ve officially lost them. Shannon swung her head to the side, sending her friends a furious look. When she knew that they were through yapping, she told Mary scathingly, “They are mine. I suggest you don’t forget that.”
“No, we are not.”
Startled, Shannon stared at the man who stood beside Mary. She hadn’t even noticed him walk up in her “Hell Hath No Fury Like Shannon Scorned” moment.
When Drew’s words connected with her brain, she almost cried out. Then Drew slid his arm around Mary’s waist, and Shannon’s heart shattered into tiny fragments that no one would be able to mend.
Jared joined them, walking up to Mary and placing his hand on her back. This time she couldn’t hold back the gasp of anguish. The throbbing pieces of what used to be her heart withered and died.
Concern appeared on Jared’s face. The look crushed her, and she couldn’t take any more. She recklessly shouldered her way through Drew and Mary before making a mad dash to the ladies’ room with tears blurring her vision.
* * * *
Shrouded in darkness, a man clothed in all-black peered through the side window at Dolce Serenità. He stood between two prickly bushes, their sharp points jabbing him through his knit sweater when the wind blew. He watched as the little bitch he’d returned to this abominable town for ran away from Mary like a weak, frightened rabbit.
Shannon Roberts. He’d kept his eyes on her from afar for years, but the time had come for him to take back what belonged to him—and only him. And, this time, there would be nothing and no one stopping him. He’d kill them first.
* * * *
Jared saw fury spark in Jaycee’s eyes, and he recognized that his baby sister was about to tear a strip off his hide, and Drew’s, too. He just hoped that Drew didn’t skin her alive.
Since Shannon had kicked them out of her apartment a couple of months ago, Drew had grown increasingly difficult. From his erratic and unpredictable behavior to his mood swings, Jared and Randy could barely stand to live with him. But what could they do? Drew was their brother, and he needed them even though he wouldn’t admit it.
“Don’t say it, Jaycee Elizabeth,” Drew said icily. “We don’t want to hear it.”
A red-faced Jaycee jumped out of her seat in the blink of an eye and started poking Drew in the middle of his chest. “No. I’m going to say it, and you are going to listen, jackass.”
Drew’s jaw dropped at Jaycee’s biting rebuke. Since their parents had died and the three of them returned home from college to run the ranch and raise her, Jaycee and Drew had been as thick as thieves. She loved to give him hell, but she was indulgent with him just as he was with her. At any other time, this situation would be comical. However, he was on Drew’s side, so he was on her blacklist, too.
Jared’s conscience tugged at him. Am I really on his side?
“You don’t know what’s going on with her. So, you better back the fuck off or you will deal with me—” Jaycee threatened.
“And me,” Katie-Anne interjected with an evil grin that would scare the Devil himself.
Jaycee patted Drew in the chest, instead of poking him, sweetly. A little too sweetly.
Apparently, Drew agreed with his thought. He stared at Jaycee’s dainty hand apprehensively.
Speaking with a sugary voice, Jaycee warned Drew, “This is your only warning, brother of mine.” She glanced over at Jared with a smile to match her tone and said, “You, too.”
Drew glowered at Jaycee, who seemed completely unaffected by her brother’s fury-filled gaze. She actually appeared to be enjoying their disagreement, which pissed Jared off.
Jared had been on good behavior for the past few minutes, treating Jaycee with kid gloves. But that was over. If she could be bitchy, then he didn’t have to be Mr. Nice-Big-Brother. She wanted to argue with them, then so be it. They were not her men.
“Jaycee, threatening us is futile. You aren’t going to change anything.” Jared could feel his nostrils flaring in fury. “We’ve made up our minds.”
Liar.
He wasn’t exactly sure of his decision. The last few minutes had proved that, but he wasn’t about to share that with her yet. “That’s that, Jaycee. You are the one who needs to back the hell off.” Jared warned her for his sake as much as her own. He needed to make some big decisions, and Jaycee didn’t help his current frame of mind.
Jaycee shuddered melodramatically, identical to the way the soap opera actress she’d idolized when she was ten had.
Now, he wanted to shudder—in revulsion. Your acting skills suck, little sister.
Jared shook his head in irritation. She acted as if it were perfectly normal to be a spoiled brat, and he didn’t like it one damn bit. They hadn’t raised her to be like this.
“Oh, Jared. I’m so scared,” Jaycee taunted. She peeked over her shoulder at the haughty woman in the booth. “Katie-Anne, do you know where my blankie and pacifier are hiding? Looks like I’m going to need them.”
Katie-Anne choked on the dark-colored liquid she had been in the process of drinking. She exclaimed reproachfully, “Jaycee!”
Jaycee flipped her head back around to face them, inquiring with over-exaggerated innocence, “What? Did I do something wrong?”
Give Jaycee pigtails and a sucker, and her naive schoolgirl act would be complete.
“This is getting out of hand. We’re going home,” Drew announced in a hardened tone, grasping Mary’s hand. He pulled Mary from the table roughly, calling out over his shoulder, “Meet you at the truck, Jared.”
Jared wanted to laugh out loud. His brother was no better an actor than Jaycee was an actress. Drew used Mary as a shield, and he didn’t even realize it.
Fuck. After the past few minutes, Jared knew that no woman would replace Shannon. He could spend his life searching for something that didn’t exist or he could help Randy.
“Jaycee—” he started, but his face must have given away his decision.
His sister’s face lit up. “Welcome back, Jared.”
Chapter 5
Before the ladies’ room door closed, Shannon flopped down onto the chenille chaise in Dolce Serenità’s adjoining lounge. She sighed dejectedly and let her emotions flow freely, each tear from her eyes more cleansing than the last.
It almost felt good to cry, probably because she hadn’t done it in so long. She couldn’t even recall the last time she had truly allowed herself to be human and not a robot. She didn’t remember a time when she wasn’t the Tin Man or, in her case, the Tin Woman. Forgetting that she was a living being with feelings and thoughts made life much easier or at least more bearable.
Right on schedule, the bathroom door flew open and her best friends bounded in. Bitchily, Shannon lashed out as she wiped away the evidence of her fleeting moment of humanity. “Took you long enough.”
“I had to have a sisterly chat with my brothers,” Jaycee responded.
Shannon heard the click of the bathroom door being locked. Her attention focused o
n Katie-Anne, who grabbed one of the other chairs and planted it in front of the door before lowering herself elegantly into the seat.
“There,” Katie-Anne said, sounding far too proud of herself.
Curiously, Shannon asked, “Do you really think that is necessary, Katie-Anne?”
“Of course,” Katie-Anne replied. “You never know about these busybodies.” Scowling, she grumbled something about “nosy bitches.”
Jaycee took the seat next to Shannon with a sigh. She stared at the ceiling with tired eyes and told Shannon, “She only wants to keep Leila out. You know she just arrived on the arm of Shane, right?”
Distracted, Shannon’s sniffles tapered off, and she inquired only half interestedly, “Really? I didn’t know.”
Jaycee perked up at the prospect of gossip, her gaze leaving the ceiling. “Wonder what Landon thinks of that.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and declared, “He is probably taking it as well as that one over there.” Jaycee brazenly pointed at Katie-Anne, who flipped her off.
Scrubbing her hands up and down her pant legs, Katie-Anne cleared her throat. “We are not here to talk about me.”
Shannon preferred to keep herself out of the hot seat, so she latched onto Jaycee’s semi-scandalous small talk. “What do you mean, J?”
“Don’t you dare, J,” Katie-Anne threatened Jaycee implicitly. “I will hurt you.”
Cheerfully, Jaycee stuck her tongue out and spilled the beans, “I overheard Gray talking about Shane and Landon’s situation.” She paused, using a hand gesture to dramatically indicate quotation marks before moving on. “Apparently, they have unresolved issues.”
The normally unflappable Katie-Anne turned red in the face. “Stop it, Jaycee. Please.”
Whoa, baby. I haven’t heard her say that word often, especially not the way she’d just said it.
Like the gossip she was, Jaycee moved forward with her tale, despite Katie-Anne’s request. “Numero uno problemo is Katie-Anne. They both have the hots for our sugary sweet friend—”
Shannon snorted. “Sugary sweet, my ass.”
Exasperated, Jaycee attempted to resume airing out Katie-Anne’s dirty laundry, “They made a pact that they both had to stay away from her unless they shared, but Shane’s hesitating, and Landon’s fighting tooth and nail to change his mind. Numero dos problemo—”
“Must you talk that way, J? You’re just annoying us,” Katie-Anne grouched, her voice sounding oddly high pitched. If Katie-Anne donned green fur and lived in a trash can, she would be Oscar the Grouch. A female, soprano version of Oscar.
“Speak for yourself, Katie-Anne,” Shannon snapped. “Ignore Oscarina. I want to hear this.”
Jaycee leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees and balancing her chin on her hands. “They have some sexual tension festering. Obviously, both of the men want the other, but neither of them will admit it.” She shook her head. “Men are so obtuse.”
“Says the pot to the kettle. As fucking usual,” Katie-Anne remarked snidely. There’s the diva we know and love.
“Kiss my ass,” Jaycee sneered.
Pretending to shiver, Katie-Anne ribbed Jaycee, “No. I know where it has been.”
With a lecherous grin, Jaycee responded, “Hell yeah!”
Katie-Anne pretended to gag, “He’s my brother, Jaycee Elizabeth.”
Jaycee seemed to be confused. It was all for show, of course, but it was no less funny. “And?”
Shannon coughed to cover her laughter. Right now, she would be in huge trouble if she made the mistake of finding humor in the two women’s half-joking, half-serious verbal exchange. They fought about this constantly, and Shannon wished they would just get over it. It was funny as hell but seriously annoying.
“I don’t want to hear about you and Gray or Cade and Gray. I certainly don’t want to hear about all three of you.” Katie-Anne crossed her legs and arms simultaneously. “Hell, I don’t want to hear about you and Cade either. He is my honorary brother. Both of them are virgins.”
Giving into her amusement, Shannon nearly fell out of the chair howling with laughter.
Jaycee scoffed, but her lips twitched. “Those two have never been virgins. Trust me. I’ve heard every rumor about their raunchy escapades.” She wiggled her eyebrows and gloated, “It used to all be hearsay, but I can now confirm every salacious detail. I’m one lucky bitch.” At the end of her bragging, she winked audaciously.
“You are about to be—”
Having grown tired of the whining, Shannon cut off Katie-Anne before this conversation spiraled into a complete bitch-fest. “Stop the bitching. She’s never going to quit talking about your brother, Cade, and fucking. She is a pervert, and she loves to piss you off.”
Katie-Anne rolled her eyes, jumping from the trivial topic into the one that Shannon had hoped to avoid. “I’m going to say this as nicely as possible, my dear.”
Shannon cringed internally, waiting for the brutal attack. Katie-Anne rarely pulled her punches, and she wasn’t going to do it now. Katie-Anne proved her right. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Fight or flight? The question pounded in her temples as adrenaline careened through every, single one of her body’s systems. She sensed the not-so-subtle differences. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, and her breathing increased drastically.
A burst of energy had her off the lounger, pacing the elegant room like a caged animal. The irrepressible restlessness controlled her, and she couldn’t subdue it.
“Shannon Roberts, you tell us what the hell is going on with you,” Katie-Anne demanded in the firmest voice Shannon had ever heard her friend use. Refolding her tanned arms hostilely across her chest, Katie-Anne pinned Shannon against the wall with the daggers shooting out of her eyes. “No more hiding and no more fucking lies.”
Guessing her best course of action became Shannon’s priority. She needed to get inspired in the next minute or so. Otherwise, there would be hell to pay, at her expense. When the coolheaded Katie-Anne morphed into the hotheaded diva, trouble was up ahead. Danger, Will Robinson!
Katie-Anne didn’t even give her thirty seconds. “Spill, Shan. We are waiting.”
Watching in avid fascination, Jaycee twirled a gorgeous blonde lock of hair around her skinny finger. “Come on, Shan. It’s us. We share everything.”
Shannon turned her back to them and paced away. “I can’t.” She couldn’t hide the crack in her voice. If she hadn’t been so lost in the turbulent sea of her emotions, she would be mortified at revealing her pain, even to Jaycee and Katie-Anne. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”
“Yes. You can.”
Shannon whirled back around to meet her friends head-on. “No, really,” she denied emphatically, hoping she could impress upon her two friends that it wasn’t them. It was her. “I can’t or I won’t or whatever you want to call it.”
Katie-Anne and Jaycee looked at each other intently. They seemed to be sharing a brief moment of silent communication that made no sense whatsoever.
Puzzled, Shannon whipped her head back and forth between her two friends who were studiously ignoring her. “Why do I feel like I’m missing something important?”
“Because you are,” Katie-Anne replied haughtily as she and Jaycee turned their attention back to Shannon. She didn’t seem inclined to share the big mystery, choosing instead to cock her head to the side and scrutinize Shannon with an intensity that had her fidgeting. “You want to play hardball, Shan? Then we’ll play hardball.”
“Yep,” Jaycee agreed gleefully, rubbing her hands together. “Dare time!”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“No,” Shannon cried with more volume than she’d intended. She rubbed her sweat-coated hands up and down her oversized pant legs, the roughness of the black jeans chafing the soft flesh of her upper thighs. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to play Truth or Dare. It might have saved Jaycee from her rut, but it won’t work for me.”
“Ah-ah.” Katie-Anne wagged an obnoxi
ous finger that Shannon instinctively wanted to break in her general direction. “We think that it’s about time to shake out all the monotony in your life. You know, the life where there is nothing going on, nothing you need to talk about, and nothing you need to share.”
Flipping her dark hair over her shoulder, the high and mighty Katie-Anne smiled disdainfully. “If the garbage you want us to believe is true, honey, you’re going to need more than a little shaking. It’s going to take a fucking earthquake.”
For one second, Shannon’s animosity reached a feverish pitch, causing her to forget that this woman was one of her closest friends. “You sarcastic bitch.”
“Aw, thank you, dear. You’re just too sweet,” Katie-Anne thanked her facetiously.
Shannon wanted to wrap her fingers around that swan-like neck and throttle her.
“Behave, Katie-Anne,” Jaycee chided. “No need to be so damn nasty.”
Katie-Anne talked over Jaycee as if she weren’t there. “Shannon Roberts, I dare you to prove me wrong.”
“Huh?” That wasn’t a dare. Was it?
“Show me that there is nothing wrong. Show me that there is nothing going on. Show me that you don’t care about Jaycee’s brothers. If you have nothing to hide, prove it,” Katie-Anne challenged scornfully.
Katie-Anne’s response left a lot to be desired. Shannon still couldn’t grasp what she meant.
“Um, okay.” Shannon wasn’t sure if her words were a question or an answer. It wasn’t significant anyway. Right now, the only critical thing was finding out what the hell was going on. And, even more important, what exactly they wanted her to do.
She didn’t have to wait very long before Katie-Anne set her straight.
* * * *
Lounging in the living room, Randy heard the front door open with a bang, followed closely by a noisy clatter that sounded suspiciously like something tumbling headlong to the floor and busting open.
